Allen v. Roam, 7611
| Decision Date | 08 January 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 7611,7611 |
| Parties | Tom ALLEN and Nellie Allen, H. L. Mitchell and Nora Mitchell, Hugh Cochran and Opal Cochran, William Brisch and Chadna Brisch, Appellants, v. Glenn ROAM, Arthur Collier and Everett Kissinger, Members of the County Court of Pulaski County, Missouri, and Harold G. Burnett, County Collector of Pulaski County, Missouri, Respondents. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Claude T. Wood, Richland, T. A. Shockley, Waynesville, for appellants.
Arthur B. Cohn, Wayne W. Waldo, Waynesville, for respondents.
Plaintiffs-appellants, resident taxpayers of Pulaski County, Missouri, for themselves and other taxpayers, bring this injunction action against the Collector of Revenue and Judges of the County Court of said County to enjoin the Collector from collecting or attempting to collect taxes levied for the year 1956 and seeking a mandatory injunction against the County Court commanding them to revise and lower the rate of levy on all real and personal tangible property in Pulaski County so as to produce substantially the same amount of taxes as previously estimated to be produced by the original levy. The trial court denied relief and dismissed plaintiffs' petition. Plaintiffs appeal.
The petition alleges that the assessed valuation of real and personal property within the County of Pulaski was increased more than ten per cent over the prior years' valuation by State Tax Commission after the rate of levy had been determined and levied by the County Court and other bodies legally authorized to make such levy and certified to the County Clerk for the year 1956; that after such increase in the valuation by the Tax Commission it was mandatory that the County Court and other bodies legally authorized to make levies immediately revise and lower the rates of levy to the extent necessary to produce from all taxable property substantially the same amount of taxes as previously estimated to be produced by the levy, but that said taxing authorities failed to revise and lower the rates as required by law.
The petition asked the court to enjoin the Collector from collecting the tax for 1956 because it is illegal and void, being based upon the original levy made by the taxing authorities of Pulaski County prior to the increase of valuation made by the State Tax Commission. It also asked for a mandatory injunction commanding the County Court to revise and lower such rates for the taxable year 1956.
The answer admits that defendants are the duly elected Collector and members of the County Court as alleged but deny all other allegations in the petition.
When the cause was argued before this court the attorneys for appellants admitted that the proof failed to show facts necessary to constitute a class action as contended by respondents. Appellants further conceded that they are not entitled to a mandatory injunction against the members of the County Court as asked for in their petition.
It is further admitted that appellants, Hugh Cochran, Opal Cochran, William Brisch and Chadna Brisch have, since the filing of this suit, paid their taxes and no longer have an interest in the subject matter of the action. Nellie Allen has, since the trial of this cause, died, leaving only as interest parties in the appeal, Tom Allen, H. L. Mitchell and Nora Mitchell.
The only issue before this court is whether or not the trial court's judgment denying relief to appellants is supported by the evidence.
The records of the County Court were offered in evidence and show that the Court, by its order made at the May Term, on June 11, 1956, set tax rates for 1956 on all real and personal property for general revenue purpose at fifty cents on the $100 valuation; thirty-five cents for special road and bridge purposes.
The court put in its order that these rates were made with the understanding that the assessed valuation on town and farm property would be increased by the State Tax Commission for the year 1956, fifty per cent, and a letter was offered in evidence to that effect. This...
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John Calvin Manor, Inc. v. Aylward
...for injunctive relief was allowed in cases similar to the instant one. Wymore v. Markway, 338 Mo. 46, 89 S.W.2d 9 (1935); Allen v. Roam, 308 S.W.2d 787 (Mo.App.1958); Boonville Nat. Bank v. Schlotzhauer, 317 Mo. 1298, 298 S.W. 732 (banc 1927); Bowman v. City of East Prairie, Mo.App., 240 S.......